Ratchet
Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, titled as Ratchet & Clank 3 in Europe, Ratchet & Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal in Australia and Ratchet & Clank 3: Totsugeki! Karakuchikku Rangers in Japan, is a action/shooter game developed by Insomniac and published by Sony. It was released in North America on November 2, 2004 and was met with critical acclaim, earning an average review score of about 90%. It is the first game in the series to utilise Sony's Network Adapter for online play. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal sold over 400,000 copies in its first year in PAL regions (Europe and Australia) earning it the Platinum title on June 17, 2005.4 It later earned the American region Greatest Hits title on August 1, 2005. Story and plot While channel surfing past Clank's new TV show, "Secret Agent Clank", Ratchet stumbled across a news report about his home planet, Veldin, being under attack by an army of Tyhrranoids. They were believed to be working for a cyborg by the name of Dr. Nefarious. After racing to Veldin and being appointed as the new sergeant for the Galactic Rangers, they were contacted by the President and asked to find the only man who had ever fought Nefarious and lived, who was believed to be living on planet Florana as the Florana tree beast. After watching an episode of "Nature's Mysteries" about this creature, they flew to the Nabla Forest on Florana where it made them cross the Path of Death. Afterwards, they learnt that the Florana Tree beast was Captain Qwark, who apparently lost his memory while working to save the Florana Jungle's fauna. He now believed himself to be a monkey. After Qwark and his companion, Skrunch (a one-eyed monkey) were led to the ship, Sasha Phyronix, captain of the Starship Phoenix, was ordered to assist Ratchet and Clank. Aboard the starship, they left Captain Qwark in his new quarters. After leaving Qwark, they found Sasha listening to a transmission from the president on planet Marcadia, who turned out to be her father. Nefarious interrupted the transmission and declared war on all organic life forms, or "Squishies" as he called them. Ratchet and Clank then ventured out to Marcadia's capital to assist the Galactic rangers and the president. After assisting the president, Ratchet and Clank were sent to the Laser Facility where they met Big Al; he joined the crew of the Phoenix and gave the heroes the Captain Qwark Vid-Comic issue 1. When Ratchet and Clank played this game on the Phoenix, Qwark's memory was restored. While Captain Qwark went through rehabilitation, Ratchet and Clank were sent to Annihilation Nation to claim the Tyhrraguise (a device which concealed the wearer as a Tyhrranoid) as a prize. Afterwards, they were informed that the president had placed the war effort under Qwark's command. The "Q-Force" (consisting of Big Al, Helga, Skid McMarx, Ratchet, Clank, Qwark, and Sasha) were assigned a new mission to infiltrate Nefarious' base on Planet Aquatos to acquire as much information on Nefarious' plans as possible. They discovered that Dr. Nefarious was Clank's biggest fan, and Clank found and downloaded an encrypted star-map to the Tyhrranoids' home planet and base, Tyhrranosis. Nefarious was shocked to see that his base has been infiltrated, and outraged to find that Qwark was behind it. After Al decrypted the starmap, the group (mainly Ratchet and Clank) infiltrated the base on Tyhrranosis and destroyed it. Dr. Nefarious then sent the Q-Force a transmission, still shocked that they actually infiltrated his base. Al traced the transmission to planet Daxx. When Ratchet landed, he was led by Al to a computer terminal that contained data on Nefarious' new secret weapon called the Biobliterator. Clank also found that a transport ship had just left for the Obani Gemini moons the day before. Ratchet, Clank, and Skid made their way through the first two moons, only to find the third was protected by a "Omega Class Disintegration Shield". Ratchet then got an urgent call from the Galactic Rangers who needed his help on Blackwater City against the Tyhrranoids. Ratchet left to help them, but Skid decided to stay and work on the force field. Ratchet and Clank arrived on planet Rilgar and helped the Galactic rangers defend their base. The pair soon discovered that they needed to find Courtney Gears, a pop-star singer who they believed was working with Nefarious. Ratchet and Clank returned to Annihilation Nation to enter the "Meet Courtney" challenge. When they beat the challenge, Courtney was surprised to see Clank. When Clank asked her where Nefarious was, she said she would tell him if he got her a part on Secret Agent Clank. He accepted, and when he asked for information on Nefarious, she knocked him out and brought Clank to Nefarious. Nefarious gave Clank two choices: to either join him and rule a galaxy of robots, or to die with the "Squishies" becoming a traitor to his own kind. Back at Clank's trailer, Ratchet was ambushed by the Tyhrranoids. Fighting his way back to the ship, he found Clank, who was acting very strange. When Ratchet asked him about the whereabouts of Nefarious, Clank said he was on a star cruiser called the Leviathan. The two landed on Obani Draco, the third moon, where Skid was able to bring the shield down. As it turned out, it was Courtney's hideout. The two discovered the Biobliterator there, a machine that changed organic life forms into brainwashed robots bent on destroying the "Squishies". After that, they confronted and defeated Courtney Gears. Upon finishing her off, they received a transmission from Sasha, who tracked the Leviathan to the Zeldrin Starport. They left Skid who had been transformed into a robot by the Bio-Bliterator as a test subject and headed for the starport to meet up with Qwark. The Q-Force reached the Leviathan and fought their way through hordes of enemies until they found Nefarious waiting. It turned out that it was a trap, as he activated the self-destruct system and warped out of there. All of the Q-Force returned to the Phoenix, except for Qwark, who stayed behind, saying he thought he saw something important. Ratchet and Clank flew off just as the Leviathan exploded, still debating whether to leave Qwark behind. After a funeral for Qwark on the Phoenix, Ratchet flew to the city of Metropolis, which was under attack by Tyhrranoids. During the battle, Nefarious used the Biobliterator to turn helpless citizens and Tyhrranoid invaders alike into robots. Ratchet battled his way to a hovering train, where it was revealed that the real Clank had been the prisoner of Doctor Nefarious, ever since an evil copy known as Klunk replaced Clank and met with Ratchet at Holostar Studios. After defeating Klunk, Ratchet and Clank were reunited and flew to the planet Zeldrin to investigate the wreckage of the Leviathan, hoping to find what Qwark was looking for. Dr. Nefarious. On Zeldrin, they discovered an encrypted data disc (The Master Plan), and a recording that revealed that Qwark was alive when the cruiser went down. They resolved not to tell the crew that Qwark was alive until they found out why he did not report to the Phoenix. After playing a video game that contained information as to the whereabouts of Qwark's hideout, they flew to the Thrann Asteroid Belt and battled past security robots and hostile Megacorp Lawn Ninjas until they found Captain Qwark himself, who had abandoned his fight against Nefarious in favor of the comfort and safety of his hideout. Ratchet left in disgust, but Clank made one last appeal to Qwark, stating that he had an opportunity to "become the hero you have always wanted to be", when Qwark was looking over at his costume with a kind of heroic glow in his eyes. When they returned to their ship, they received a garbled transmission from Sasha, who told them that the Phoenix was under attack. Ratchet helped the Galactic Rangers regain control of the ship and freed the captured Q-Force members. Al told Ratchet that he had finally cracked the encryption on the data disc, which contained a complete copy of Nefarious' battle plans. Ratchet had to fly to the planet Koros to destroy the Biobliterator before it was unleashed on his beloved home, Veldin. Ratchet and Clank reached Koros, and after battling hordes of Nefarious' troops, Clank used the Ion Cannon there to destroy the Biobliterator. However, Sasha soon reported that a second Biobliterator was housed at a command center on planet Mylon, guarded by an entire army of robot Tyhrranoids. Ratchet and Clank flew to Mylon, fought through the Command Center, and reached the Biobliterator, just in time for Dr. Nefarious and his butler Lawrence to escape. Luckily, a dropship arrived for Ratchet and Clank to pursue Nefarious to his launch site. At the launch site, Ratchet and Clank battled Dr. Nefarious once and for all. After a short while, he fell down and begged for mercy, fooling Ratchet into a false sense of victory before running away. Ratchet chased after Nefarious, and with the help of the Galactic Rangers, defeated him. Nefarious and Lawrence then warped into the Biobliterator, which transformed into a giant robot. Ratchet and Clank looked utterly doomed - when Captain Qwark flew in to fight alongside them. Ratchet and Captain Qwark engaged in aerial combat against Nefarious and the Biobliterator, and destroyed it. The Biobliterator self-destructed, and Nefarious and Lawrence were warped away to an unknown location. The ending was cut off to the premiere of the latest Secret Agent Clank holofilm, where Clank and Skrunch faced off against Maximillian's forces on a snowy world. The premiere was a huge success, and Ratchet even got a kiss on the cheek from Sasha. The last scene was of Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence, sitting on an isolated asteroid, out of range to teleport to escape for the next several thousand years. Lawrence suggested some music to help pass the time, but Nefarious. Gameplay Despite straying further from a classic platform game, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal still offers some of the basic features of a platform game but with a strong mix of action and shooting; PGNx Media has dubbed it a "combat-platformer". It offers melee and long range combat and boasts a large, varied arsenal as one of its primary features as it has been in previous games. Ratchet on a planet's surface. Visible are the weapon and bolt information, and a Gadgetron vendor. Ratchet is initially armed with a giant wrench, his primary melee weapon, but as the player progresses through the game new weapons and upgrades can be obtained. As well as the 20 weapons available to the player, each weapon (apart from the RY3NO) has eight maximum levels of strength, which enhances on the previous game's progress of only leveling up once, and then three after that once the game has been completed and the player starts "challenge mode". Alongside the weapons, which are primarily used in combat, there are ten gadgets that can be collected for use in other situations. For most of the game the player will be in control of Ratchet but in some areas the player takes control of Clank, Ratchet's ally. Clank can give commands to smaller robots called gadgebots to perform tasks with the use of a command menu to solve puzzles and attack enemies. Clank also features in "Giant Clank" scenarios where Clank transforms into a larger form and can battle similar size enemies; in this form he gains increased fire power and a large amount of health. During the single-player game, the player can also play as Captain Qwark in 2D side-scrolling levels (called "Vid Comics"), which build upon the history of Captain Qwark and his previous conflicts with Dr. Nefarious. The game offers a huge range of enemies and different stages. It also features online multiplayer modes, such as Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, and Siege (in which the player storms the opponent's base and tries to destroy the power core inside). It supports up to eight players at a time and supports voice chat through a PS2-compatible headset. Ethernet connection is needed if playing online against other players. Characters * Annihilation Nation Host * Big Al * Billy * Bob * Clank * Clank's Director * Cognito, Slim * Commando * Deserter * Edwina * Factory Robot * Fizzwidget, Abercrombie * Florana local witness * Fred * Galactic Rangers * Gears, Courtney * Gratch, Darla * Helga * HelpDesk Girl * Hypnotist * Jowai Resort Owner * Klunk * Lawrence * Mathematician * Matron * Maximillian * McMarx, Skid * Nefarious * New Age Mystic * Novalis Chairman * Old Smolgian * Phyronix, President * Phyronix, Sasha * Plumber * Protopet scientists * Qwark, Copernicus Leslie * Qwark's Bouncer * Race Girl * Ratchet * Robot Lieutenant * Sam * Shady Salesman * Skrunch * Skid's Agent * Supernova Taxi driver * Tyhrranoids Weapons Insomniac expanded on the extremely popular concept of the weapons' upgrading based on usage, with five possible upgrades initially and another three in the "challenge mode" for a total of eight versions of each weapon. Rather significant upgrades (such as enabling a "lock-on" mode) can be added in certain levels in addition to the standard increase in range, power and ammo capacity; upgrading to the final level (both "level 5" in the standard campaign and "level 8 Omega" in challenge mode). Another improvement from the previous game, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, is that imported weapons (the ones that continue from the previous game, such as the Miniturret Glove) can also enjoy the many levels of upgrades that the new ones have. * Agents of Doom * Annihilator * Blitz Gun * Bouncer * Disc Blade Gun * Dual Laser Saber * Flux Rifle * Holoshield Glove * Infector * Lava Gun * N60 Storm ** Miniturret Glove *** Nitro Launcher *** OmniWrench 8000 V3 * Plasma Coil * Plasma Whip * Qwack-o-Ray * Rift Inducer * Shield Charger * Shock Blaster * Spitting Hydra * Suck Cannon * RY3NO Category:Ratchet & Clank series